For more than 15 years, the Bus Riders Union has organized Black, Latino, Asian Pacific Islander and white working class bus riders to lead the fight for a mass transit system based on civil rights, environmental and climate justice in Los Angeles. The BRU’s historic Civil Rights lawsuit and 10 year consent decree won $2.7 billion in investment in LA’s bus system. Yet today, with global warming and the ongoing air pollution crises requiring a massive shift away from the automobile, Los Angeles — with 7 million cars, still the car capital of the world — remains at a transportation crossroads. With public officials continuing to invest billions of public dollars into wasteful highway and rail expansion projects, the Bus Riders Union offers a visionary model for bus-centered urban public transportation. How can the the BRU’s transit model address civil rights and global warming? How can the BRU’s innovative organizing model help build a revitalized world united front to stop the rising tides of war, racism and imperialism, the ecological crisis and the growing police state?

This interactive presentation and workshop will be led by Bus Riders Union organizer Eric Romann. Eric has been active in movements for racial, economic, gender, environmental and immigrant justice for 12 years and has worked with the Bus Riders Union and its parent organization, the Labor/Community Strategy Center, since 2008. Eric is also producer of Voices from the Frontlines, the Strategy Center’s weekly radio show (Tuesdays at 4pm on 90.7FM KPFK) addressing local, national, and international issues from the perspective of grassroots organizers, social movements, and progressive politics.